Wednesday (5 February) is World Read Aloud Day. In an opinion piece in Cape Argus, Dr Zelda Barends from the Department of Curriculum Studies argues that reading aloud to children helps entice them to read and, in so doing, improves their literacy development.

• Read the article below or click here for the piece as published.

Not a day goes by where we are not reminded of the outcomes of the 2016 PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy) study which showed that 78% of Grade 4 learners in South Africa cannot read with understanding. Put simply, 8 out of 10 children cannot comprehend what they are reading. This highlights the many challenges we face when developing reading literacy in the Foundation Phase.

Many brave establishments are working hard to find a lasting solution to this issue. Interventions addressing reading and literacy are sometimes generously funded but are they really making headway? Children cannot read with understanding and in order to address this issue, we need to understand what it means to learn to read.

Research shows that reading does not develop naturally. Learning to read is really tough. It demands certain knowledge and skills but evidently language skills that must be taught explicitly.

Reading refers to the ability to decode words and then comprehend these words. Being able to decode words implies that the reader is phonemically aware meaning that he/she understands that spoken words are composed of individual sound parts called phonemes. It is also an early literacy skill developed from birth as the child is exposed to oral language.

However, phoneme awareness and phonics are not the same. Whereas phoneme awareness skills include the ability to manipulate sounds aurally through explicit instruction in sound identification, matching, segmentation, and blending, phonics demands that readers link sounds (phonemes) with letters.

Besides developing phonemic awareness and acquiring phonic skills, readers also need to develop fluency and automatic decoding skills. These skills will develop if readers are phonemically aware and are equipped with sufficient knowledge of phonics. Fluency and automaticity enable readers to recognise words promptly. If these skills are in place, readers can spend their time and memory internalising the information acquired through reading and connecting it to their prior knowledge so that they can comprehend, which is the eventual goal of reading.

Comprehension or understanding demands that a reader processes visual text, understands its meaning and integrates this with existing knowledge. However, this can be difficult if a reader struggles to process or recognise individual words. Put simply, if a reader is not able to recognise words automatically, they experience a hindrance in their reading which interferes with their capacity to comprehend what is read.

Good readers are phonemically aware, they understand that a systematic relationship exists between written letters and spoken sounds and they apply certain skills fluently and possess vigorous vocabularies. In addition, they can relate what they are reading to existing experiences. Difficulties in any of these points can impede reading development.

It is important to keep in mind that learning to read begins far before children enter formal schooling. Therefore stimulating literacy experiences from birth onward is imperative as it gives readers an advantage in vocabulary development, creates the foundation for the goals of reading and develops an awareness of print and literacy concepts. Readers lacking such experiences could most likely not excel in reading. This is something that educators should be cognisant of because evidence suggests strongly that they can foster reading development by providing readers with instruction that advances the concepts of print, the purpose of reading, age-appropriate vocabulary and language comprehension skills, and familiarity with the language structure.

Linking letters with sounds is often a difficulty many readers experience and it is the source of reading problems. Readers who experience this are hesitant in their reading, their reading is characterised by frequent starts and stops and multiple mispronunciations. If asked about the meaning of what has been read, they frequently have little to say because they take far too long to read the words, taxing their memory and leaving little energy for remembering and understanding what they have read.

Given these many challenges, what can we do to help our children read with understanding at a young age? One of the things we can do is to read aloud to them, especially on World Read Aloud Day (5 February).

We know that young readers benefit significantly from being read to. They are exposed to the structure of stories, they learn to reason as they see/hear other sides to a story.

Reading aloud also provides opportunities for readers to view persons not in their immediate environment, like people from different ethnic backgrounds or social status. In addition, reading and books provide a wonderful opportunity for readers to develop their imagination.

Reading aloud is the foundation of literacy development as it could be a demonstration of good reading practice, skills in action. It reveals the rewards of reading and develops a reader's interest in books. 

Listening to others reading helps develop crucial reading skills. Readers who are read to are being granted access to more complex ideas, are exposed to vocabulary and language patterns that are not part of their daily speech. Reciprocity is an end goal of reading aloud too. Through being read to, readers are enticed to become better readers.

As we celebrate World Read Aloud Day, we should also remind each other that through our own intervention, no matter how big or small, we can help turn around the reading crisis in South Africa.

*Dr Zelda Barends is a lecturer in the Department of Curriculum Studies at the Faculty of Education at Stellenbosch University.